DOGE overstated savings, government watchdog says

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/06/doge-savings-overstated-watchdog-report-01027797

76•ceejayoz•1h ago

Comments

N_Lens•58m ago

The amount of damage inflicted by this admin will take over a generation to assess, if circumstances are stable enough to do so.

nutjob2•54m ago

I think you'll eventually find that the United States has lost much of its credibility and goodwill forever.

john_strinlai•49m ago

for awhile, sure. but we can look at japan, germany, etc. and recognize that it wont be "forever".

edit: woops, i guess everyone apparently still hates japan and germany and will hate them forever, too. does everyone still hate spain?

clark_dent•46m ago

A good proportion of the older generations still disdain or mock Germany as nazis-in-waiting. There may be an end to the damage done to their global reputation, but it's not here yet 80 years down the line.

SideburnsOfDoom•29m ago

> There may be an end to the damage done to their global reputation, but it's not here yet 80 years down

Let's not forget that in the early part of the 20th century, Germany was the powerhouse of mathematics and sciences such as physics and chemistry, to the extent that top scientists basically had to learn German (1) and/or study in Germany (2).

How long did it take Germany to recover that preeminent position?

Its a trick question: they did not recover it.

1) https://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/162/how-did-german-b...

2) e.g.

> In 1926, Oppenheimer left Cambridge for the University of Göttingen to study under Max Born; Göttingen was one of the world's leading centers for theoretical physics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Robert_Oppenheimer#Early_ca...

ModernMech•16m ago

> to the extent that top scientists basically had to learn German

That reverberates even toady -- I had a physics professor who who learned German precisely because he wanted to read some original texts written by Boltzmann. Apparently he thought he was missing some nuance in the translations.

fabian2k•45m ago

I certainly hope that the US finds a less destructive way of changing their reputation than Germany did.

ceejayoz•39m ago

I'd really prefer not to learn the "don't put evil assholes in power" lesson the way Japan and Germany did.

They're basically brand-new countries.

john_strinlai•37m ago

i hope that it is obvious i am not saying that...

my point was that a couple generations is usually enough to heal most animosity, assuming the offending events cease

certainly in a thousand years, ~no one will remember.

ceejayoz•36m ago

A couple generations plus a flattening of most major cities, and the deaths/imprisonment of the leadership responsible.

john_strinlai•35m ago

punishment of those responsible, sure.

i dont think flattening of most major cities is a requirement...

ceejayoz•34m ago

> i dont think flattening of most major cities is a requirement...

Both of your chosen examples went through exactly that as part of their reputational change.

john_strinlai•32m ago

i can go dig up other examples of countries that did bad things which are forgiven now, if you'd like.

LoganDark•43m ago

the hit to practically all of its spy programs will set it back years

dgellow•17m ago

Easily a decade

amiga386•27m ago

Post WW2, the US set up some fantastic levers of power that let it establish and maintain its hegemony at arms length: the United Nations and the UNSC. NATO. The petrodollar. Pax Americana could've gone on forever.

However, those levers of power are subtle enough that once the US voted ignorant jackasses into power, they wrongly thought that's just how the world is, they can do what they like, including -- critically! -- dismantling the levers of power.

It's like that image of the idiot sawing off the branch he's sitting on. How else can you explain the US trying to fuck up the UN and NATO?

jermaustin1•24m ago

> Pax Americana could've gone on forever.

Hubris is the undoing of all empires. And hubris is basically entropy for humanity.

skinfaxi•13m ago

> How else can you explain the US trying to fuck up the UN and NATO?

At least cynically, there is nothing ignorant about it, it is intentional undermining probably for personal gain.

e2le•40m ago

Unfortunately Americans remain too comfortable to bother with any serious push back. The destruction of democratic traditions in America will continue and the president will keep using the office to legitimise his scams.

dgellow•18m ago

Even worse, way too many people are still actively supporting this. That can even been seen in the HN commenting crowd

nutjob2•56m ago

This was fairly obvious from the start.

fabian2k•52m ago

The goal wasn't to save money, but to destroy the administrative capacity of the government. And to eliminate programs Musk, Trump and their cronies disliked, while circumventing the legal procedures.

Of course it didn't save any money, and it was obvious from the start that the numbers they put out were entirely fictional.

micromacrofoot•50m ago

people were saying this literally as the cuts were happening, we need to get over the delusion of powerful men knowing something the general population doesn't

mingus88•47m ago

Oh, it saved money for someone all right

blitzar•43m ago

You mean they didn't save 25 trillion dollars a year from the 7 trillion annual spend?

I cant believe they would lie about this ... i am sure that this is a totally isolated case and they have been straight forward and honest about everything else.

The DOGE refund cheque is due to arrive any day now.

chevman•41m ago

They'll just extend the forecast horizon when questioned:

"Oh, those projections were over the life the expected costs,forecast out 10/15/20 years into the future. Everyone knows this is how you calculate such savings..."

TimorousBestie•36m ago

I won’t be surprised when the GAO’s budget is cut next as retaliation for this embarrassing report.

metalliqaz•34m ago

Its purpose was not to save money but to disable government regulation of capital.

dgellow•15m ago

Specifically on Musk, that directly benefited his companies

lorreyfum•34m ago

No problem just find more. It’s pretty easy.

hn4yci687u•31m ago

Great context, thanks for adding it

bix6•31m ago

And all you techno futurist republicans voted for this. And you’ll do it again cuz money or whatever.

xgulfie•27m ago

The right's platform has devolved into, essentially, "whatever owns the libs"

saalweachter•20m ago

Eh, I'm not going to dispute the validity of Cleek's Law, but ~everything Trump, et al, are doing has been an extremely popular idea with different segments of the right for thirty, forty years.

That goes for DOGE, both the idea of "drowning the government in a bathtub" and the specific cuts they made (eg, wrecking foreign aid), that goes for ICE, even the Iran War, which is widely regarded as the unpopular thing that might actually sink the administration, is something a solid 30% of the base has been salivating over since Reagan and are only upset that he hasn't "finished the job" yet.

If you think it's all purely reactionary you haven't been paying attention for the last 40 years.

dgellow•14m ago

What you describe is the definition of reactionary

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionary

actionfromafar•24m ago

It probably saved money for some very special companies.

ransom1538•23m ago

Last night a jam was canceled in Brazil: "bee-conservation musical". People say it's a waste of US tax payer funds (USAID), but they don't understand the real cost. 600 people are now suffering from PTSD and attending survivor therapy after being deprived of the bee-conservation musical. Our homeless can wait, the "bee-conservation musical" must go on.

(Europeans: this is sarcasm)

ryanmcbride•17m ago

WOW YOU DONT FUCKING SAY?????????

classified•11m ago

If there's a government watchdog left, then Trump, Musk, DOGE, etc... haven't done their jobs. They are all too incompetent to even do a proper work of destruction. Or did someone fail to bribe them right?

ChrisArchitect•10m ago

[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49204510

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